"I can offer them a very sympathetic ear and a very sympathetic prime minister. I have come here to listen and learn," Howard told Australian radio. "I will talk to people, I'll hear their concerns, I'll ask them how the federal government can further assist because we are already helping a great deal."

Families farming almost half Australia's agricultural land are receiving drought assistance, with New South Wales the worst affected where families farming 92 percent of the state's agricultural land receiving help.

Australia's conservative government has already spent more than A$670 million ($507 million) on direct drought assistance to farmers and expects to have spent more than A$1 billion by the time the drought ends.

But farmers want the "exceptional circumstances" drought assistance overhauled, saying it was unfair as many families were ineligible for help if any family members had taken up full or part-time work in nearby towns to try to survive.

STAYING AFLOAT

The "exceptional circumstance" drought assistance helps farmers through employment services, free personal and financial counselling, income support and interest rate relief. But the level of assistance is dependent on farmers' other sources of income and wealth to see if they are eligible.

Howard's first stop on his bush trip was the 15,000 hectare (37,000 acre) Bunnerungie Station, which has been in drought for four years, forcing owners Phillip and Christine Larwood to transport feed to their diminished sheep flock.

Christine Larwood said her job as a primary school teacher had prevented the family from receiving drought assistance.

"(My job's) not getting us anywhere, it's keeping us afloat," she told reporters.

The Larwood's 17-year-old son Greg said he planned to go to university when he finishes school this year rather than working on the family's farm.

"I'll try and get into university. There's not much point in coming back here," he said.

The National Farmers' Federation told a gathering of 1,000 farm industry leaders on Tuesday that the present drought could could cause as much damage as the country's worst drought in a century in 2002, which wiped one percentage point off GDP growth.

The farming industry met in the central New South Wales town of Parkes to seek increased drought assistance.

The federation also said that good autumn rains were needed in the next two to three weeks for the planting of Australia's winter crops -- including wheat, barley and canola.